Introduction
The impact of transition and structure of property rights
The impact of agriculture on the environment
The influence of society on the agricultural environment
Conclusions
References
Annex
 

Historywise Poland is an agricultural country, where arable land is the dominant factor in the land structure. Therefore this branch plays a key role in the national economy, especially since a quarter of Poland’s population lives in the rural area. This paper shows some data, which the author considers the most important, on agriculture and its role in realizing the environmental policy of the state. It must be understood, however, that many crucial problems have been merely touched upon, others had to be ignored. The most important data about Polish agriculture is presented in the Annex.

After 1945, the Polish agriculture was the only one in Eastern Europe to maintain its character including the ownership aspect. Private ownership was dominant: individual farmers managed around 75 percent of arable land. Changes after 1989 began the process of privatization both in agriculture and in agro-food enterprises. In the years 1991-98 about 13 percent of land that had earlier belonged to the state was sold. The state land privatization process will continue. There is a danger, however, that as the arable land gets sold, high value natural land will become private, too. New owners are usually not interested in maintaining it, thus, it may be subject to destruction. Since there is no tradition of ownership of valuable natural land, there are no regulations in this field (Karaczun, Grzeœkiewicz1996, Karaczun 1997).
Restructuring processes have also occurred in the food industry. As of the end of 1997, more than 50 percent of state enterprises operating in the food industry and undergoing ownership changes were transformed into State Treasury companies. The remaining enterprises were liquidated (15.4 percent) or privatized (33.6 percent). A change in the structure of economic entities operating in the food industry sector is illustrated by the data presented in Table 1.
Polish farmers paid a high price for keeping private ownership. As the state tolerated only small farms and would discourage young people from running them, the majority of the already existing farmsteads are technically backward and fragmented. Towards the end of the 1980s, the average farm size was about 6.5 hectares, and more than 30 percent of farms were less than 2 hectares. At the same time agriculture gave jobs to 27 percent of professionally active people (Nowicki 1993).

Table 1: Structure of entities operating in food industry (Praca zbiorowa, 1998)
 

The beginning of the 1990s was extremely difficult for agriculture. The situation forced the government to join the restructurization process of this sector. Firstly, state aid was aimed at, among others, getting private farms out of debt by buying out overdue investment credits and determining preference conditions of repayment, granting modernization credits as well as credit subsidies for buying and managing the land. There was also the possibility of earlier retirement for farmers.
In order to support the agricultural policy and restructure Polish agriculture, the government set up several institutions. The most important are: the Agriculture Restructuring and Modernization Agency, the Agency for Agricultural Markets, and the State Treasury Agricultural Property Agency. The Agency for Agricultural Markets (Agencja Rynku Rolnego - ARR) was established in 1990. The major tasks of the Agency are aimed at conducting the state intervention policy of stabilizing the agricultural markets and protecting agricultural producers’ incomes. The State Treasury Agricultural Property Agency (Agencja Wlasnosci Rolnej Skarbu Panstwa - AWRSP) is a state organizational unit established in 1991 and is mostly involved in the restructuring and privatization of State Treasury. The Agriculture Restructuring and Modernization Agency (Agencja Restrukturyzacji i Modernizacji Rolnictwa - ARiMR) was established in 1994. The Agency conducts the government policy related to agriculture and rural areas and is aimed at improving living standards in rural areas through improving production effectiveness and quality and helping farmers become competitive on domestic and foreign markets.

In liberalising the agricultural sector, the government lifted special preferences for the state-owned companies, withheld subsidies from public farms, and made it possible to set up private agro-food enterprises. Due to the liberalization of international trade, cheap imported food started flooding into Poland, this made it difficult for Polish farmers to sell their products. The negative aspect bound up with the market liberalization was that the ties between producers and retailers were discontinued. It became more and more difficult to sell the crops. Therefore the system of minimal prices for particular agricultural products was introduced. The intervention process is determined by the President of the Agency for Agricultural Markets, taking into account the level of minimal and market prices. The President also defines the periods in which intervention prices are in force (intervention periods). According to the amended act of establishing the ARR, the scheme of intervention activities is limited to annual programmes, accepted by the Council of Ministers. The intervention in 1997 was limited to the following markets (MRIGZ, 1998): cereals, skimmed milk powder, honey, potato starch, hops and wool (only sales of the stock).
An element of liberalization is the development of an agricultural market infrastructure, particularly through the establishment of agricultural stock exchanges (currently in Poznan, Olsztyn and Lublin) as well as through the creation of wholesale markets (currently in Poznan).
According to the Rzad Polski’s opinion (MRIGZ, 1998), the level of liberalization in Polish agro-food sector is far greater than in the EU Member States. About 75 percent of budgetary funds regarded as a support for agriculture is actually transferred to the farmers’ Social Insurance Institution. Export subsidies, except for small amounts of sugar, are practically not applied, and border protection against excessive imports of subsided agro-food products has also been less strict than in EU countries. It should be expected that during the process of integration the existing level of agro-food market liberalization will be reduced.

In 1996, there were more than 3 million farms in Poland, of which 2 million were individual agricultural farms. The average farm size was 7.8 hectares of land, including 6.9 hectares of agricultural land. Between 1988 to 1996, the total farm size increased by 0.86 hectares and the agricultural land by 0.72 hectares. There were 2 000 farms in the public sector. The average size of these farms totalled 779.5 hectares whereas the average agricultural land area amounted to 619.6 hectares. The size structure of individual and public farms in 1996 is presented in Table 2. (Praca zbiorowa, 1998). As a result of the system changes occurring after 1989, the number of individual farms declined by 5.8 percent, agricultural cooperatives by 8.0 percent and state farms by 44.4 percent.

Table 2: Size structure of individual and public farms in 1996 (Praca zbiorowa 1998)
 

The real land market in Poland was created by establishing the State Treasury Agricultural Property Agency (AWRSP) in 1991. One of the main tasks of AWRSP was reconstructure and privatization of State Treasury property used for agricultural purposes. Since the establishment of the Agency, it has incorporated into State Treasury Agricultural Property Stock about 4.6 million hectares of land, including all of the former state farmland. Of this, AWRSP managed to sell only 581 thousand hectares. There are 3.9 million hectares of land remaining in the State Treasury Agricultural Property Stock. This land was disposed through lease (3.6 million hectares), administration (237 thousand hectares) and management and perpetual use (117 thousand hectares). There are 639 thousand hectares remaining to dispose of in the State Treasury Agricultural Property land. The Agency sells the State Treasury Agricultural Property land through legal tenders to natural and legal persons. Natural persons have purchased almost 3/4 of the sold land. There are two main reasons why AWRSP has been able to sell only about 580 thousand ha: first the shortage of financial sources of the farmers in Poland, and second the small profitability of agricultural production. Small interest in buying agricultural land from AWRSP by individual farmers can be a lost chance for field consolidation ^1.(Leopold, Zientara 1998, Karaczun 1997).
To increase the pace of land consolidation as well as the size of individual farms, the setting up of the Land Bank is being planned (MRiGZ, 1998b). Farmers who will make a decision to give their land to the bank will, in return, receive an agricultural pension within Agricultural Social Insurance Companies or use the obtained financial means for other purposes (e.g. setting up his/her own enterprise).

The 1990s is a period of high inflation in Poland. Increase in prices in the years 1990-98 reached the level of about 800 percent. Such high inflation had a very bad impact on the farmers’ welfare. Sums obtained in one year from selling crops were not sufficient to purchase means of production in the following year.

Table 3: Index of input and output prices by individual farms (GUS 1998a).

Data presented in Table 3 show the economic situation of farmers worsened. This was because the increase in input prices was higher than that in output prices. Data presented in Table 4 show that, in the 1990s, the economic conditions got better in crop production but worsened in animal production.

Table 4: Relation between output to input prices in agriculture
 

Source: GUS 1998

There are 18.5 million hectares of agricultural land in Poland. This represents 59.1 percent of the total area of Poland. Poor quality soils (IV and worse classes) are dominant. Their total area exceeds 6 million hectares, that is more than 34 percent of total agricultural land (Table 5). High and very high quality soils in Poland (I and II class) comprise only 600 thousand hectares. About 78 percent of agricultural land represents arable land and orchards, and 22 percent - pastureland. Out of total land area, 92 percent is used by the private sector. About 12.5 million hectares of arable land are under production.

Table 5: Quality of agricultural land in Poland
 

Source: Praca zbiorowa 1998

In terms of soil protection, the soil use structure in Poland is disadvantageous. There is too much arable land and too little perpetual use land. The level of afforestation in Poland is less than Europe’s average. Forests take up 28.2 percent of the country’s area. When combined with the majority of sandy soils, the agriculture soils are in danger of degradation, especially erosion, soil exhaustion and chemical degradation.

The most common danger for soil coming from agriculture is erosion. Almost 28 percent of the land area is endangered by wind erosion, 27.9 percent by water erosion and 18.2 percent by gullying (Table 6). Arable land situated in central and eastern Poland (85 percent of the total area of Lodzkie Province) is mostly endangered by wind erosion; northern and upland districts by water erosion (71 percent of the total area of Bielskie Province) (GUS 1998). Despite the measures undertaken, the danger of this form of degradation has not decreased and it should be expected that it will continue to be the basic form of degradation of soils in agricultural use.

Table 6: Vulnerability of soils to erosion in Poland, 1997
 

Source: GUS 1998

Another form of degradation is soil exhaustion, the reasons being: simplified crop rotation, long-term monoculture, reduced organic fertilizing, using the same fertilizers and plant protection chemicals repeatedly. Reduction of organic fertilizing also leads to decrease of humus. In the first half of the 1990s, the ongoing process of dehumidification of soils was caused by their excessive drying (Rzad Polski 1997). The total area of soils which underwent this kind of degradation is unknown. It should be expected, however, that the intensification of agricultural production may magnify the process. One of the kinds of chemical degradation of soil bound up with crop production is salinity. Agricultural soil salinity results from improper fertilizing and irrigation, especially with sewage. The amount of fertilizers used in Poland as well as the area under irrigation has decreased since the 1990s. The amount of sewage used for irrigation has considerably dropped (Table 7.). This, in turn, reduced the danger of this kind of degradation. It should be expected, however, that the intensification of agricultural production will result in a larger area under irrigation, which will increase the salinity danger.

Table 7: Irrigation in agriculture
 

Source: GUS 1998

Acidification of soils is a crucial problem in Poland. Although it is caused mainly by natural factors as well as industrial emissions, the use of physiologically acid fertilizers speeds up the soil acidification process.

Erosion and soil acidification are the most troublesome for Polish farmers. Much as it is possible to fight slight and medium erosion e.g. by applying proper agrotechnical methods and crops, preventing acidification is more difficult and requires expensive work. Despite the fact that the cost of liming is being subsidized from the state budget, the amount of fertilizer used is insufficient for Polish conditions. The fact must not be ignored, as research shows that soil acidification is an ongoing process (IUNG 1989). When cultivated on acid soils, plant intake of heavy metals is considerable, even if their concentration in soil is insignificant. Erosion, acidification and exhaustion bring about reduced crops and, as a result, may lead to the intensive use of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals.
Lack of sufficient infrastructure poses an important problem for a balanced development in rural areas and makes it difficult for individual farms to function properly. Most rural districts have not worked out any system of collection and utilization of waste. Only about 34.5 percent of farms dispose of their waste in legal dumping sites, 65.5 percent animal farms dispose of their waste on their own (GUS 1998), which is very often hazardous for the environment (burning, disposing of in forests etc.). This, in turn, poses risk for the local soils and other elements of the environment.²
Stored products and fodder on the farms lose part of the nutrients contained in them as a result of rotting, dispersal, leaks etc. Part of nitrogen and phosphorous lost in this manner is accumulated within the farm or around it, and some is carried away. There are no studies regarding the dispersal of nitrogen compounds in the environment from agricultural products and semi products stored on the farms. Losses, especially of nitrogen from animal waste stored in the farms are known much better (Sapek 1997). Currently the manner of manure storage in Poland evidently promotes soil and water pollution. In over 95 percent of farms, the manure is stored directly on the ground, frequently well permeable. The manure water infiltrates the ground and flows to the nearest water flow or drainage ditch. The liquid manure is usually stored in small leaking tanks which also promotes the pollution of soil and water. The amounts of non-organic nitrogen compounds collected in the soil profile is presented in Table 8.

Table 8. The content of nitrogen compounds in a ground profile near a manure pile on a farm located in the Szczecin area (Sapek 1997)

Source: GUS 1998

An important factor that poses a threat to the condition of soils is the bad economic situation of farms. Producers, looking for ways to increase their profits, are ready to use a simplified crop rotation system, use the cheapest possible fertilizers or pesticides (not always proper ones) or overexploit the soil with the hope of gaining higher profits. Despite the measures undertaken to improve the infrastructure and raise the level of education in rural districts, the situation is worsening. It should also be expected that, if plans concerning the intensification of agricultural production and the setting-up of big, industrial farms are put into practice, and with present farmers being replaced by the new generation, the soils will be much more endangered in the future.

The protection of surface and groundwater against territorial contamination is very complex and has not been fully solved yet (Bogacka et all, 1993). Mineral and organic fertilizers, chemical plant protection substances, and, to a lesser degree, animal farm pollution are considered to be typical sources of territorial contamination. The most dangerous of these are biogenic compounds and pesticides. The importance of the problem results from the amount of the nitrogen and phosphorus flow from the territory of Poland into the sea and the share of the territorial sources (around 60 percent of nitrogen and 30 percent of phosphorus) (Smorowski 1996). Counteracting these threats can be made possible through applying proper agrotechnical measures based on soil condition evaluation and supported by legislative measures within the regulations on fertilizers and plant protection chemicals (Kowalik 1994). These measures should coincide with efforts made to diversify the structure of the agricultural landscape. Thanks to Ryszkowski’s team’s long-term work (1988, 1991, 1997) the feasibility of these measures in Poland has been determined.

Table 9: Water consumption and waste water emission from agro-food enterprises, 1997
 

Source: GUS 1998
 

An agro-food industry consumes a considerable amount of water and largely contributes to its contamination (Table 9). The fact is that, in spite of there being some improvement, 10 percent of sewage coming from agro-food plants still remains untreated, and about 18 percent undergoes only mechanical treatment.

In order to identify the loss of nutrients and pollution of water, nutrient balance can be calculated. The balance is drafted on the assumption that the income is the amount of nutrients from outside and outcome is the amount of nutrients sold from the farm or taken away in some other manner subject to control. The balance figures cover the period of one year which corresponds to the production cycle in agriculture. The nitrogen and phosphorous balance in Poland was estimated for years 1984 - 1994 (Sapek 1997). The main results are presented in Table 10.

Table 10: Nitrogen (N/ha) and phosphorous (P/ha) balance in Polish agriculture
 

Source: (Sapek 1997)

If the nitrogen and phosphorous surplus is converted into the prices of mineral fertilizers, a figure of about US$500 million is obtained. There are no estimates of material damages to the environmental caused by the dispersed nitrogen and phosphorous.
Animal production has decreased significantly during the last ten years but it is still one of the main sources of water pollution. The waste resulting from animal production amounts to over 125 million tonnes annually (Table 11). This constitutes the greatest threat to the quality of waters from agricultural sources. This mass is easily biologically transformable, contains huge amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous and is rich in various bacteria generating illnesses (Sapek 1997).
The biggest danger to the quality of water resulting from nitrogen and phosphorus overfertilization occurs in central Poland, stretching from the Baltic Sea’s east coast to Lower Silesia and taking up 25 percent of the country’s territory (Johnson et all, 1997).

Table 11: Production of animal waste in Poland in 1994 and its nutrient content
 

Source: Sapek 1997

The problem of agriculture pollution is not only important regionally in Poland, but also assumes international significance through its effects on the Baltic Sea. Poland’s two principal rivers, the Vistula and the Odra, empty into the Baltic Sea after draining basins that cover almost (97 percent) the area of Poland. Poland contributes substantially to Baltic Sea pollution (Table 12).

Table 12: Annual pollutant load of Vistula and Odra rivers to Baltic Sea in 1991 and 1996
 

Agriculture also leads to water condition disturbances. After 1945, in order to enlarge the acreage of land under cultivation, intensive melioration works took place. At first it was only drainage and land reclamation, the result of which was the drying of the majority of swampy and waterlogged areas. Soon, that led to decreased retention and accelerated water outflow from agricultural areas. The water deficit³ occurs especially in the central Polish lowland, taking up the area of 120 000 km² (Kleczkowski, Mikulski 1993).

As has been already said, one of the sources of water pollution is the wrong way of animal waste storage. The elimination of manure disposal on ground and construction of a manure pad leads rather slowly to the improvement of water quality since accumulated elements are washed out with difficulty from the soil. Animal husbandry and the abundance of products within the farm account for the pollution of groundwaters near the farms, which is well illustrated by the analysis of drinking water from the farm wells. In 1997, research done by public services shows that more than 70 percent of farm wells have bad quality drinking water (GUS 1998). Another investigation (Sapek 1997), done at the beginning of 1990, shows that the concentration of nitrate was higher than standard (10 mg N-NO₃/dm³) in 50 percent of the samples, and in 15 percent of the samples the concentration exceeded 40 mg N-NO₃/dm³. Pollution of potable water with nitrate is usually accompanied by pollution with phosphorous, potassium and chloride; frequently concentration of these elements was dramatically high (i.e. up to 1813 mg K/dm³ and up to 1 166 mg Cl/dm³ (Sapek 1997)).
Farms not equipped with sewerage systems are a problem in Polish rural districts. About 1 943.8 thousand buildings have a water supply system (as opposed to 887.5 thousand in 1990), but only 129.1 thousand have sewerage systems (as opposed to 39.1 thousand in 1990)! This means that 79.8 percent of individual farms use a water supply system (51 percent water mains, 28.9 percent local water supply systems) but only 5 percent can take advantage of a sewerage system. Since, as has been mentioned in the previous chapter, the service network is poor in rural areas, farmers have problems getting rid of the waste. Therefore, such practices as loosening cesspools, disposing of sewage into the ground, drainage ditches or even unused wells have become popular with farmers. This considerably contributes to the worsening of ground and surface waters.

With respect to pollution emissions from the agricultural sector into the air, the case of the emission of greenhouse gases has been worked out best. Agricultural production in Poland brings about the following kinds of emissions (Rzad Polski 1997): CO₂ (coming from the use of energy carriers in farms and production activities), CH₄ (coming from breed animals’ enteric fermentation and animal excreta), N₂O (the use of nitrogen fertilizers).

Table 13: Changes in CH₄ and N₂O emissions from agriculture, 1988 - 94
 

The decrease in methane emission from animal breeding results from a lower cattle and sheep population in the 1990s (Table 13). Reduction of nitrogen peroxide from about 30 percent in the years 1988-94 is bound up with reduced nitrogen fertilizing from 82.0 kg N/ha in 1988 to 46.6 kg N/ha in 1994. The emission of this gas is expected to grow in the years to come together with the increased use of nitrogen fertilizers.
The estimated CO₂ emission resulting from the use of fuels in farms amounts to about 32 million tonnes a year and has maintained a steady level for several years. Since the use of solid fuels has been decreasing, the respective emission of this origin should decrease as well (Table 14).

Table 14: Annual consumption of energy carriers in agriculture, 1993 - 97
 

Source: Rzad Polski 1997
* - author’s prognosis

Another source of agricultural pollution emission into the air is the agro-food industry. Table 15 shows that this source of emission decreased by over 20 percent in the years 1993-97 as far as ashes are concerned, and by 30 percent in the case of SO₂ . The reduction is closely bound up with the change of energy carriers and the smaller amount of sulphur in coal.

Table 15: Changes of dust and sulphur dioxide emission from agricultural plants, 1993 - 97
 

Summing up it needs to be said that agriculture does not contribute to air pollution to a considerable extent. The share of this sector in the total pollutant emission into the air varies from 1 percent in the case of ashes and SO₂ emissions from agro-food plants and 9 percent in the case of carbon dioxide emission coming from fuel use and production activity in farms, to 25 percent in the case of methane emission coming from breed animals’ enteric fermentation. The situation is not expected to change in the years to come.

Poland’s most characteristic landscape is heritage countryside: small plots with various cultivations, divided by forests with numerous tree varieties. This kind of landscape is the dominant one in the central, northern and eastern districts of Poland where small, individual farms prevail. After 1945, the landscape was destroyed in northern and western districts where state-owned farms had biggest share of agricultural land, managing vast areas. The collapse of the state farms as well as setting up of the land turnover market, brought about new dangers connected with taking over farmland for non-agricultural use and especially for housing and recreational development. The danger occurs mainly in the surroundings of big cities and in the areas of high natural, tourist and landscape values.
The beginning of legal protection of high value areas goes back to the 1980s. It was not, however, until 1991 when a new bill on environmental protection was passed, that the problem was fully regulated. The basic possibilities of landscape protection are the following: national and landscape parks, protected landscape areas and landscape reserves. The possibility to set up so-called ecological farmlands is an important innovation introduced in 1991 (Table 16). Small, field tree plantings, ox-bow lakes, peatbogs, waterlogged areas etc. are protected in this way.

Table 16: Areas of special landscape protected in different forms, 1990 - 97
 

Although protective functions are dominant in the area of national and landscape parks, agricultural activity is present here as well. The high participation of agricultural areas in the total acreage of protected land shows the importance of agriculture for these areas (Table 17). Therefore it is crucial that agriculture in these areas remain extensive as well as environmentally and landscape friendly. It is necessary, among others, to determine legal forms of protection and management of tree plantings, ecotones and small ecological farmlands (especially wet and water biotopes), which occur in the agricultural landscape and are not protected otherwise.

Table 17: Share of agricultural land in national parks, landscape parks and land- scape protection areas
 

In summary up, present dangers for the Polish landscape result from non-agricultural activity - first of all the growing fragmentarization of high value natural areas due to building industry pressure and the threat of the building of a highway and expressway network. Basic threats from agriculture are those bound up with pressure for its intensification, enlarging farm acreage and production unification.

Considerable natural diversity has been maintained in Poland. The species, ecosystem and landscape diversities are one of the highest in Europe. The character of Polish agricultural landscape, rich in ecotone zones and the insignificant use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides are conducive to maintaining high biodiversity. Poland signed (1992) and ratified (1995) the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Convention, as well as other signed and ratified regulations, including national natural and environmental protection regulations, makes a cohesive set of regulations which protects biological diversity in a complex and relatively effective way. Poland participates also in determining the European network of protected areas (Nature 2000 and ECONET), and participates in UNESCO’s "Man and the Biosphere" programme, within which 7 biosphere reserves have already been set up (Rzad Polski 1997).
The measures to protect biological diversity are undertaken in situ and ex situ. The majority of high value natural areas, which are the mainstay to biodiversity, have been taken under legal protection in Poland. The system of protected areas comprises (GUS 1998): 22 national parks (0.94 percent of Poland’s total area), 1 201 nature reserves (0.4 percent of the country’s total area), 105 landscape parks (6.6 percent of the country’s area), 334 protected landscape zones (18.5 percent) and over 4 000 other objects with other forms of protection (0.1 percent of the country’s area). Species protection comprises 111 plant species and 125 animal species, which are legally protected across the whole country. In order to protect biodiversity it is crucial to maintain the domestic species. In Poland, due to traditional forms of farming, numerous old cultivable plant varieties, animal breeds and other wild plant species (e.g. weeds) have been preserved. In recent years much has been done to maintain that state.
The main dangers to the biodiversity in Poland do not seem to have anything in common with agricultural activities. New dangers occurred with suggestions to privatize state-owned forests or claiming the expropriated land (before 1989) to enlarge properties. It should be expected that the realization of the government agriculture development project – especially in the field of agricultural production intensification and farm acreage enlargement will bring about an increased threat to species diversity (e.g. as a result of liquidation of ecotone zones, intensified use of chemicals). Research clearly proves the likeliness of the threat: in the years from 1986 to 1992 the number of endangered plant species increased by an average of 5 percent. About 470 plant species and 19 animal species are considered to be in the process of extinction (GUS 1998).
Polish farmers’ customary straw burning poses a threat for numerous species of fauna and flora. Despite intensive educational efforts, undertaken by environmental protection services, agricultural advisory centres and fire department, the total area where straw is being burnt has not changed for years.

Limitations in agricultural production due to the degradation of the natural environment are usually bound up with the land being taken over for non-agricultural use, its contamination, limited resources and water degradation, as well as the disposal of waste in the landscape and not in properly secured dumping sites.
The arable land acreage that has been excluded from agricultural use from 1980 to 1997 was 942 thousand hectares. The land was usually taken over for afforestation purposes or infrastructure development (GUS 1998). It should be expected that the area of the land excluded from agricultural production will not increase.
Managing agricultural enterprises is made difficult by intense soil acidification. The phenomenon has its origin in natural conditions (formerly afforested areas), and coincides with the effects of human activity - improper use of mineral fertilizers (which are physiologically acid) and the process of sedimentation of acidifying substances. Although in the 1990s almost all rainwater pollution indices were twice as low, their reaction was still between pH 4.0–4.5. In the same period, 0.5–2.0 tonnes of S-SO₄/km²/year and 0.3–1 tonne of N-NO₃/km²/year infiltrated the ground. As a result, high acidity soils (pH _KCI <4.5) make up about 23 percent of arable land in Poland and acid soils (pH _KCI <5,5) reach the value of 22 percent. In order to neutralize the acidity it is necessary to do medium liming (approximative 250 kg CaO/ha/kg). Last year, however, the total value of liming amounted only to 139 kg CaO/ha/year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, due to the soils being contaminated with heavy metals, 40 thousand hectares should be excluded from agricultural production and some vegetable cultivation should be limited on another 800 thousand hectares (Michna 1993). In 1996 monitoring research was done on some Polish soils. The results show that, apart from the above mentioned areas, the heavy metal contamination level is insignificant, less than in the West European countries. It has been found that only the levels of Cd, Zn, Ni and Pb were slightly high, which was usually the case in the surroundings of large industrial plants with exclusively local impact. Another local source of soil contamination is improper waste storage. About 10 percent legal and all the "wild" dumping sites are of poor sanitary – technical condition and pose a threat to local soils and groundwaters. Successive limiting of industrial pollutant emissions as well as improvement of waste storage standards contribute to the reduced acreage of land undergoing degradation.
As it has been mentioned before, Poland is a country of high water deficiency. In many districts of the country, precipitation does not satisfy the needs of crops. Usage of surface waters for agricultural purposes is made difficult or impossible due to their contamination. Monitoring research (GUS 1998) shows that in 1997 only 11.5 percent of river water was clean enough to be used in agriculture, 88.4 percent of rivers were beyond any water contamination classes. The condition of lake water is not better. Groundwaters (deep-water) are of better quality (52.5 percent high quality water) but are usually not used for irrigation purposes – only as drinking water, in agro-industry and for watering animals.
In conclusion, although rural areas in Poland are under industry’s pressure and there is limited capacity for the agriculture to develop because of the degraded environment, the level of the natural habitat transformation in rural areas is generally less advanced than in Western Europe.

In 1991 the Parliament of the Republic of Poland ratified the document entitled: "National Ecological Policy" (MOSZNiL 1991). The document formalized measures undertaken in the field of environmental protection, and determined short, medium and long-term objectives as well as basic rules for ecological policy. Together with the introduction of the Ecological Policy for Poland, institutional changes concerning environmental protection management system were untertaken. Of the institutions that were set up at that time, two appear to be the most important⁴: National Environmental Protection, the Water Management Fund (Narodowy Fundusz Ochrony Srodowiska i Gospodarki Wodnej - NFOSiGW) and State Environmental Protection Inspection (Panstwowa Inspekcja Ochrony Srodowiska - PIOS). The first institution is the most important one⁵. as finances environmental protection investments in Poland and works on three levels: the central fund as well as province and rural district funds. Investments within rural environment protection are supported to a large extent with province and rural district funds. Creating an effective system of environmental protection financing made it possible to increase expenditure on pro-ecological institutions from about 1.1 percent of the GDP in 1990 to 2.0 percent in the years 1996-97 (which means expenditures of approximative US$2.1 billion). In 1997, as many as 1 267 sewage treatment plants were built (including 875 individual farms treatment plants) with a total flow capacity of more than 2 500 m³/24hours, over 400 hectares of degraded land was recultivated and 3 562 sewerage terminals were built (GUS 1998). Gaining access to EU adjustment funds should increase the total amount of expenditures on environmental protection in Poland.
One of the main tasks of the State Environmental Protection Inspection is to monitor the execution of environmental protection regulations. Every year the PIOS employees carry out several thousand inspections in industrial plants. According to the regulations they have the right of admission into any plants across the whole country in order to carry out their controlling and monitoring procedures. Should any irregularities be found, they are authorized to fine the unit under control, apply for legal suit to the public prosecutor’s office or issue an order to quit the activity. PIOS is also responsible for monitoring the environmental condition in Poland as well as taking part in new investment localizing procedures.
During the 1990s, several foundations which are interested in sustainable development of rural areas have been established. Some of them offer training and education programmes, others support financially different investments. The most important foundations, that with offer grants or preferable credits, and which are active in the environmental protection fields on rural areas are:

• EcoFund Foundation (The EcoFund receives its financial sources from the "eco-conversion" or "debt-into-environmental protection swap") - increased control over contamination and eutrophication of the Baltic Sea (waste water treatment, also from agricultural activity), protection of biological diversity;
• Foundation for Water Supply of Villages - sewage collection and treatment;
• European Fund for Development of Polish Villages. Counterpart Found - rural/municipal waste landfills, gas supply system in rural areas;
• Agency for Municipal Development - water supply, sewage collection and treatment, waste management, power, gas and heat supply;
• Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture - water supply and sewage collection systems in rural areas;
• Environmental Know-How Fund - water and air protection, waste disposal;
• Polish - Germany Cooperation Foundation - sewage collection and treatment, water supply and others;
• Polish Agency for Regional Development - technical infrastructure projects (Phare - Rapid).

In the National Ecological Policy (NEP) not much attention seems to be paid to agriculture. NEP’s only indirect goal referring to agricultural production is the priority concerning the necessity of withdrawing agricultural production from overpolluted areas. It needs to be stressed, however, that executing other NEP’s goals may have a direct impact on the level of agricultural production development. Very little attention is paid to environmental protection in the documents concerning the agricultural policy. The government’s assumption project on agricultural policy by the year 2000 (MRIGZ 1994) determines the most important objectives for agricultural policy integration and environmental protection:

• protecting agriculture against the consequences of environmental degradation in Poland;
• optimal soil liming in order to eliminate the effect of its acidification;
• realizing investments concerning creation of a rural communal economy and
• making potable water improvement programmes widespread in farmsteads.

In the "Medium-term Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Areas Development" (MRIGZ, 1998) objectives and priorities for agriculture and food economy as well as rural areas are as follows:

• improvement of farmers’ income situation;
• enhancement of competitiveness domestic and foreign markets;
• improvement of living and working conditions of rural area inhabitants and
• preparation for integration with the European Union.

The following legal acts adapting the Polish legal system to that of the Community are in the process of being developed or agreed upon (MRIGZ, 1998):

• a law on fertilizers and fertilization (it implements six EU legal acts);
• an amendment to the seeds law (it implements 30 EU legal acts);
• an amendment to the law on crop protection (it implements 14 EU legal acts);
• a draft legal act - a feedstuff law (planned implementation of 79 EU legal acts).

Both the nature protection and forestry regulations are relatively or highly compatible with the regulations of the EU. Detailed work is being carried out in order to determine fire regulations with respect to forests, which are based on 2158/92/EEC regulation.
Steps have been taken to make the following EU directives compulsory:

• 79/409/EEC on the protection of wild birds;
• 92/43/EEC on the protection of the natural ecosystems of flora and fauna; and
• EEC/348/81 directive the protection of sea mammals.

Supporting ecological methods in agricultural production is carried out through (Duczkowska – Malysz 1996):

• Preference credits for purchasing means for ecological methods of food production and adjusting farms to this kind of production; and
• Educating those who express interest in it.

Table 18: Ecological farms certificated by ECOLAND
 

As it can be seen in Table 18, in Poland, there are not many farms having ecological certifications. The number of farms with certificates received from the ECOLAND Association was the most substantial. ECOLAND is the Association of Ecological Food Producers. It was established in 1989 by farmers and researchers promoting alternative farming. The Association operates based on the IFOAM ecological farming criteria and the EU disposition No 2092/91. Besides the farms certificated by ECOLAND, there is a group of farms having certificates from the Polish Ecological Association, and a group of farms with a SCAL certification provided by a Dutch organization certifying strawberry production.

According to the research of the Institute for Sustainable Development (Instytut na Rzecz Ekorozwoju 1997), ecological problems are not perceived by Polish society as particularly important or threatening and the interest in these matters has actually decreased in the last few years.
The period of the ecological non-governmental organizations’ (ENGO) highest activity was at the turn of the 1980s. At that time, several hundred organizations appeared declaring their willingness to work for environmental protection. As time passed, ENGO became less and less active. Although there are several hundred social organizations working for environmental protection, only about a dozen are really active. The main fields of activity of the Polish ENGO is environmental protection, promoting alternative models of life and consumption, solving local problems bound up with ecology. Very few organizations deal with the problem of balanced development of rural areas.

There are three main fields in which ecological organizations play an important role in balanced development of agriculture:

• direct work done to develop balanced agriculture and rural areas. The EKOLAND association plays an important role in this field. Not only does it promote ecological farming, but it organizes professional training, issues materials on ecological farming, organizes fairs and the sale of ecological products, as well as promoting agro-tourism.
• financial support of infrastructure development in rural areas. There are numerous foundations working in this field (Chapter 4.1), based on either Polish or foreign capital.
• action undertaken in order to change ecology-related policies, including efforts to draw attention to the importance of both rural areas and balanced agriculture for the proper functioning of Poland’s natural system. There are several Polish nation-wide ENGO’s e.g., Polish Ecological Club, League of Nature Protection etc.

The analysis shows that the role of agriculture in Poland is crucial. Farms are managed on about 60 percent of the country’s total area. Agriculture gives jobs to a considerable number of professionally active people. The extensive character of Polish agriculture, the fact that it is broken up into small farms, and the small amounts of chemicals used in the process of cultivation, makes Polish agriculture relatively safe for the natural habitat. At the same time, however, it makes Polish agriculture technically backward and rural inhabitants impoverished.
Polish agriculture will have to undergo certain changes. This is necessary because of Poland’s aspirations to join the European Union, the EU’s single market requirements, the opening of the Polish market to international competition, and the necessity to ensure the rural inhabitants a proper standard of living. The changes that the Polish government has planned are mainly concerned with enlarging middle-size farms and the intensification of agricultural production. This may lead to agriculture’s stronger pressure on the natural environment which, in turn, could result in negative changes of the environment.

• Water resources protection by providing financial support for the construction of water and wastewater treatment plants, water saving technologies, construction of closed water circulation and multiple use systems;
• Air protection by supporting modern technologies, particularly in the field of reduction of energy consumption and elimination of harmful emissions, rationalisation of heating systems, production and installation of pollution abatement installations, the use of unconventional sources of energy and the encouragement of modern technological improvements in reducing the environmental impact of road transport;
• Protection of land surface and waste management by supporting low and non-waste generating technologies, utilization and neutralization of industrial and municipal wastes, handling of hazardous wastes including hospital wastes, ecological utilization of wastes at their sources of origin, reclamation and re-cultivation of degraded soils;
• Mining and geology by financing the following activities: geological and hydro-geological research, development of mining technologies and the processing of minerals, collection and purification of mining waters, re-cultivation of areas degraded by mining activities;
• Conservation of nature by providing financial assistance for projects in regions under particular protection, projects focused on organization and management of these regions, on teaching, training and research centres (scientific facilities) in national parks, restitution and reintroduction of endangered species, protection of forest stands and biocenosis, restoration of natural heritage in parks and palace gardens registered as historical sites;
• Environmental education by supporting educational and training projects, radio and television educational programmes, supporting of interactive education programmes on a national scale;
• Monitoring of the environment by providing financial support for the implementation of projects resulting from the National Environmental Monitoring Programme as well as projects helping to reduce the environmental impact of extreme threats.
• Next to the National Fund comes the Voivodship (province) level, at which 16 Voivodship Funds for Environmental Protection and Water Management operate. The Voivodship Funds support mainly projects with regional significance. The existing system of environmental funds is supplemented by 2 500 municipal (local) funds which support local, municipal projects.

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